Our Most Memorable Moments from 2017
We would like to wish everyone a safe, happy, healthy year ahead and here’s to great new adventures in 2018! The end of the year is a natural time for reflection so we asked a few of our members to share their favourite SAR moments from 2017. Enjoy their stories and see you in the New Year!
“A great SAR memory for me this year was getting to guide a raft down the Chilliwack River for the first time during training. After 18 years in a kayak, it was fantastic to take a boat full of people through the rapids and see the river from a new perspective.” Jon
“My most memorable part of 2017 would be having the opportunity to interact with over 150 youth and kids through several Hug-a-Tree and Survive Outside presentations.” Matt
“I guess mine from this year was a moment during a task in the Coquihalla. Tim, Nathan and I were descending into a ravine above cliffs at 2 am when we were asked to hold our position and turn off our headlamps while a Cormorant helicopter hovered nearby to find our Subjects’ lights.
As we crouched there in the pitch black, an ET-like spotlight burst through the trees as the helicopter suddenly appeared some 200 feet away – a sight that made the hairs on the back of your neck prickle! An experience never forgotten!” Ron
Four highlights… “1) A year’s worth of well-planned training exercises set up by our Training Committee. 2) We’ve added three new Resource Members in 2017 in various support roles with our team. All three of them are amazing and we are fortunate to have them. 3) Searching for my neighbour on a task! and 4) It’s a privilege to serve as President of Chilliwack SAR.” Doug
“It was on the Lion’s Bay Mutual Aid call in April to search for the five hikers, mostly members of the Vancouver Korean Hiking Club, who perished on Mt. Harvey. A couple of days later I made a quick, abstract sketch of Mt. Harvey as I recalled it and shared it with a friend of mine who replied, “You have three faces in this drawing, and their faces are in mourning.” My friend suggested that my heart had been drawing to get such a result.
I contacted the Hiking Club and offered them my condolences and the sketch. A few days later, I heard from a woman who was a friend of the lady who had passed away. She thanked me for the drawing and expressed that one of the faces looked like her friend. It’s rare to have such closure with a SAR task, especially such a large operation. That’s my most memorable moment.” Jim F